A Means To An End
by SakuraNights01
Summary: Deceit, lies, and forgery turn a typical murder case into an unexpected challenge. This, coupled with one solemn Kaitou Kid, leaves Conan Edogawa baffled in its wake.
1. Chapter 1

The alarm clock on his bedside read 2:58 am when Jii was startled awake by the sound of rummaging.

He forced himself not to move or make any noise; even freshly awoken by a disturbance, he was proud his instincts were still intact. There, he laid and listened. After all, maybe it was his imagination, or an animal that had gotten into the wall again. But the rummaging occurred once more, this time accompanied by a particularly loud bang against the wall. Jii sat up straight as the sound died off immediately. There was definitely an intruder, but he hardly had anything of value to speak of. He couldn't think of anything they would possibly want.

Unless….

Footsteps began making their way to his bedroom, and he realized then that the normally-closed door was slightly ajar - the infiltrator had, at some point, checked to make sure he was sleeping, and it sent a shiver up his spine to think about.

He pulled himself back down onto the bed, pretending to be asleep still. Sure enough, the door creaked open, and Jii resisted the urge to peek at who it was. Not that it would've been very helpful anyways, given how dark everything was right now.

As soon as the perpetrator left again, Jii was up and about. He had neglected to charge his now-dead cell phone overnight, so calling for help from here was out of the question. There was a phone at the Blue Parrot bar, but it was a ways away from his home. So he had two options before him: escape and call for help from the Blue Parrot (which may or may not actually help depending on how long it might take him to get there), or attempt to catch the crook by himself, the more dangerous option.

In the end, escaping was decidedly his best bet - his old age wouldn't help him very much in a fight. He grabbed his car keys, wallet, and dead cell phone and quietly began making his way out of the room. Jii had, thankfully, lived in this house for a long time, and knew exactly where the floor creaked the loudest. Good distance was made before he froze in his tracks as he caught a glimpse of the crook and exactly which room they were in.

That room, in particular, housed very secret and very important documents and blueprints pertaining to the Kaitou Kid.

Jii wasn't foolish enough to leave the documents out in plain sight. Rather, they were hidden away and locked up within secret panels and drawers. But if this person were to stumble upon sensitive information, it could spell the end for the Kid.

In a split-second decision, Jii stomped on a creaky floor panel, then turned and ran when he heard someone yell "hey!" and begin giving him chase. There was hardly any time to investigate, but it was assumed the criminal had picked the locks on his front door or windows. Any thief worth their salt would know to wear gloves for this sort of operation, but dusting for prints later wouldn't hurt. As he ran, Jii took notice of larger pieces of furniture that had been shifted out of their places, as well as partially opened drawers and chests. Whoever this was, they were quite sloppy with their thievery. It was either someone inexperienced with this line of work, or it wouldn't matter how the scene was left over after all was said and done.

A potential murderer?

His thoughts were interrupted by a jolt of panic when a baseball bat missed his head by a few inches. Jii rounded a corner and, using momentum from his sprint, pulled a heavy grandfather clock down to slow down the pursuant.

_Sorry, Toichi-sama, _he thought ruefully.

This was not enough. The intruder easily vaulted over the now-destroyed gift and continued the chase. Another split-second decision was made as Jii practically threw himself upon the stair railing and slid down - an action he abhorred, but manners be damned at this very moment. Footsteps storming down the staircase echoed loud and clear through the room. The foyer was just in sight, and Jii had just one more idea to try and shake him off.

A small, mirrored vanity stood near the front door, surrounded by framed photographs upon the wall. Pictures of people he once knew, pictures of family and friends, Toichi and his family, too. This entire wall was the image of hominess. Unexpectedly, a small drawer on the vanity's front contained a number of odd objects, including a deck of playing cards, several old poker chips, a half-used up cue chalk…

...And two smoke bombs, possibly dropped in the drawer carelessly, unneeded, after a very successful heist.

Jii wrenched the drawer open and had only just grasped the smoke bombs before an explosion of sound and glass erupted all around him. Framed photographs flew off the wall and shattered on the ground, and the vanity rocked violently. He instinctively shielded himself from the mirror shards, slicing his hands and nicking his face in the process. The baseball bat rolled off the vanity table, splintered at the end where it had caught the mirror (and quite possibly the wall behind it, too, given how hard it had been thrown).

The burning sensation of the smoke bombs pressed against the cuts on his palm brought him back to the present. A quick snap of his wrist, and the entire room was filled top to bottom with a thick, dark smoke. He wasted no time yanking the front door open - the familiar _tink_ of broken lock picks falling out of the door frame indicated his initial assumption of breaking-and-entering was correct. With how quickly he leapt into his car and started the ignition, he could've broken world records. Breaking the speed limit, too, would be an addendum, but that aspect of his careless driving style was not something he paid much attention to. Instead, he checked his rear view mirrors almost constantly, and after several minutes it became obvious he hadn't been followed.

The Blue Parrot was a sight for sore eyes, and he pulled into the private parking area with enthusiasm. However, the adrenaline from before had washed away into complete and utter debilitation. He could've passed out right there and then in his car, but pressing matters urged him forward. The back door to the billiards parlor was a very short distance from his car, but to him, it felt like it took ages to reach it. Jii fumbled with the keys for a moment before they slipped out of his hands, covered in blood. He huffed quietly to himself as he stooped down to pick them up, taking note that this meant his car was now covered in blood, too.

A quick struggle with the door, and he finally stumbled into his bar, locking the door tightly behind himself. A small light was turned on as he collapsed into a bar stool, dragging the phone towards himself. His finger hovered over the buttons for a moment as he considered calling the police. But a growing concern overshadowed this idea, and he instead dialed a number he knew by heart. It was answered on the third ring.

"K-Kaito-bochama, I'm sorry to wake you, but… there's been an incident…."

* * *

**Heeeey everybody!**

**So, this idea was conjured up in the span of about an hour. Actually, I've been pondering on this scenario for a very, very long time. Consider this a "prequel" of sorts to my previous story, "Tea Time On A Thief's Dime". Yeah, that's how long I've been thinking of how to approach this story. There was some interest in me expanding on the case Kaito and Conan talk about in the aforementioned story, so I'd been hard at work contemplating scenarios. Then, it hit me all at once last night while I was getting ready for bed (as most of my story ideas tend to).**

**Please forgive me if updates are few and far between (I'll try my best not to let it happen)! I have NEVER written a story like this, and am walking into this almost completely blind. I am awful at conjuring up mysteries and their resolutions (without it being entirely obvious about what's going on), but I wanted to write this one so badly. Bear with me on this adventure. And who knows? Maybe this story will turn out to be amazing, too! :)**

**P.S. The first chapter, at the very least, is almost entirely unedited. I'll fix grammar mistakes and such later, but otherwise sorry!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wholly unedited and written pretty quickly, here's chapter 2! Unless I can't help it, I think I will be keeping the chapters in this story relatively small (if only for my own selfish want, to make this story last as long as possible, haha!). I hope you will still stick around; I will try to update faster! ;w;**

* * *

The town of Arura was, in a word, quaint.

Swap and change a few letters in the name around, and it would spell out "rural", which the town almost fit to a T. It wasn't _entirely_ old fashioned, but it was still a culture shock, considering the age of technology most of the world existed in. "Rural" and "old fashioned", so much so, the townsfolk used older rotary phones and preferred horse-drawn carts for travel.

Arura was a good ways away from the city, but the initial request for assistance had come from an apparently anonymous source. The unfortunate lack of information had Detective Kogoro in an uproar, but business had been somewhat slow anyhow, so away they went.

That had been well over a day ago, a full week after the murder they were now investigating had occurred.

"_Sounds like a real pain in the ass."_

"You're telling me. I'm still curious as to how they even got Kogoro's number," Conan replied dryly, twirling the phone cord around his index finger. Given their current location, it was a no-brainer that his cellphone didn't pick up any wifi connections or otherwise.

"_Mind tellin' me about that case again?"_

"Hattori-" Conan started, but sighed as he stopped himself from breaking out into a rant. Sure, he could've simply not been paying attention, but all the same, this case _was_ a little strange. It was worth repeating if it could get some questions answered. Unlikely, but still worth it.

"Approximately seven days ago, around 4am, a 66-year old woman named Mayu Nia was murdered by a single stab wound to the chest. The prime suspect: her granddaughter, a 26-year old woman named Mayu Hana. Motive: Unknown."

"_That is shockingly little info."_

"I know!" he snapped. "It's been a WEEK, and the police investigation team assigned to this case has found next to nothing! I don't know how this is even possible…!" He pinched the bridge of his nose. Lack of access to technology he was normally used to was one thing, but this inadequacy had just about floored him.

"_And the call was anonymous? Not even from someone within the police force?"_

"I don't know that. Interestingly enough, it was from a wireless device, so it could've come from them. Why it would be need to be kept anonymous, though, is suspicious." Conan pushed the phone receiver up onto his shoulder, holding it in place with his head and ear as he picked his notepad and pen up off of the floor to scribble out some more notes.

If they ever needed to be used, the pages of the pad were usually littered with bullet points and margin notes, full of sweet, sweet information to behold. His current page, however, was a far cry from his other cases, boasting the bare bones of this case and no more. Before he'd called Heiji to discuss the case (see also: complain), Conan had thrown down the notepad and pen in a fit of frustration.

"_On top of that, the call would've had to have been made well outside of the town's range. As close to the city as someone could get to even pick up a damn signal."_

"Exactly."

The townsfolk didn't seem to be the type to be bothered to leave Arura unless it was to sell crops or whatever to other nearby towns. Considering he'd barely been in this town a day and a half, it was unwise to make assumptions about the people living here. But Conan had a strong feeling about this one. It was like he was stuck in some farming life simulator. He was afraid to drink the water here, but by this point, he had no choice.

How he wished Heiji was here with him. Progress on this case might've come a lot quicker if his "partner in crime" wasn't stuck in the city with some business or another. He even wished Haibara had considered coming with him, but she was still upset with him. Apparently, pointing out that her choice of shirt color clashed with the color of her hair justified giving him the silent treatment for the next few days. _Honestly…._

So, Conan was now stuck in Arura with Kogoro, Ran, and Team 3, a sub-group consisting of 11 people from the investigative force they usually worked with. A supposed "simple" murder case wouldn't call for a whole fleet to come rushing in, but this case had turned out to be anything but open-and-shut.

"So, the initial request came from someone who is more than likely part of the police investigative team assigned to this town. Can you look into the personnel on the team?"

"_Sure, sure. You're talkin' about relations to the townsfolk, huh? Think there's a connection?"_

"Maybe so. It's too soon to tell, but something feels wrong. Unless they're extremely incompetent, there's no way the team spent a week investigating the case only to have found so little." At that moment, Kogoro's shouting could be heard outside, and Conan groaned. His moment of respite from this mess of a case was over, it seemed. "I've gotta go. But call me back the moment you find out anything, got it?"

"'_Course! And same goes to you. I'll be waiting."_

Conan placed the receiver back on its hook, taking a second to relax before heading outside to see what the commotion was about.


End file.
